I have noticed that quite a few successful tournament anglers have stories about fishing local tournaments early in their journey to the higher levels of tournaments.  I never fished a tournament on any level until this year.  I did do a lot of fishing with various family and friends growing up, but honestly a small percentage of which was bass fishing.

So, my question is this. 

Am I at a disadvantage in my pursuit to be competitive at the highest levels of bass fishing?  At my age I feel like I don't have the time to slowly build the expertise.